REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) encourages Indonesian government to allow international court to investigate, prosecute and convict those responsible for human rights violation by ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
PDIP considers the statute as a stimulus to overcome human right crimes in Indonesia. "It can speed up the accountability of human rights criminals," the Political Head of PDIP Central Board, Trimedya Panjaitan, said on Thursday.
Rome Statute can also be a tools for government to form Ad Hoc Human Rights Court, which is in line with the recommendation of the House of Representatives to settle human rights case in Indonesia.
Panjaitan believes the ratification of Rome Statute of ICC will not hamper Indonesian sovereignty even though some Indonesian figures may find it threatening. However, he still hopes Indonesian legal system will be sufficient to proceed the legal process once human rights violation occur.
He denied that the opinion that the ratification targeted to block former military commanders to become the candidate for president.
Meanwhile, Professor of International Law at Universitas Indonesia, Hikmahanto Juwana, said Rome Statute could be a stumbling block for the former military commander Prabowo Subianto in 2014 Presidential Election, dragging him to human rights court for the allegation of human rights violation.
Juwana predicted that the meeting between Subianto and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) discussed on Rome Statute. "Ratifying the Rome Statute will have a big impact to Indonesia and political map towards 2014," he said.
Subianto's party, Indonesian Great Movement (Gerindra), disagrees, saying that they are not worried about the ratification of Rome Statute. "We don't see it as an obstacle for Prabowo Subianto," Secretary General of Gerindra, Achmad Muzani, said.
Muzani supported the government to settle human rights case clearly, but he warned that the government should not target certain goals for their own interests behind the ratification process.
